Cable mechanism



Jan. 8, 1924.

F. c. WALTERS CABLE MECHANI SM Filed June 21.v 1922 3 Sfieets-Sheet 1 Jan. 8, 1924. 1,480,322

F. c. WALTERS CABLE MECHANISM Rye/7 47 Fri/Mr (WW/M Jam 8, 1924. 1,480,322

F. C. WALTERS CABLE MECHAN 1 SM Filed June 21. 1922 3 Sheets- Sheet s Q {I :1 r q I s 3 v K E M a a R Q Q l Patented J an. 8, 1924.

Pa r

FREDRICK o. WALTERS, or EUGENE, oiindon'.

CABLE ivr'noiinii Application filed June 21, 1 522. seria'i 1%. 9,969;

To all whom it may concmm Be it known that I, FREDRIG'K 0. Turns, a citizen of the United States," and a resident of Eugene county of Lane, and State of Oregon, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Gabl6h/I6Cl1a1rlSnT,*Of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to cable mechanism in which the cable pulleys, or drums, are driven by a common source,-or drive a-common recipient of power. As the pulleys-are in contact with .a-continuous' piece oi cable and movesynchronously it is necessary that they be the same diameter; If onedrunr orpulley should become smaller in diameter due .to wear or abrasion it follows that it will notv present the same circumference :to the cable.

be set up in thecable between the smaller drum and the succeeding drum. Means must be provided to permit .the smaller drum independent motion, orelse allow the cable toslip on the drum. slippage on the face of the drum causes undue wear and further abrasioi'i which reduces the diameter proportionately, and thus increases the harmful tension which Iv have sought to eliminate.

My invention permits independent motion to the smaller drum, thus permitting it to idle until the other drums are worn by abrasion, to the same diameter as the smaller drum which then takes its proportionate load.

The object of my invention isto provide automatic means for eliminating the differential strain between the several pulleys or drums. in a device using a plurality of pulleys and which is driven by, or drives cable operated mechanism.

A further object is to provide simple means for maintaining an equal maximum tracti ve force of the cable on each drum of a series of cable drums operating or operated at synchronous speed.

A further objectis to provide a simple,

efficientmeans-forpreventing spooling or lapping o-f-o-ne coilozt' the cable over another,

which causes und ue' wear to "the cable.

A turther object is to provide automatic means which will eliminate stretch of the cable between theseparate drums.

I attain these objects and incidental features by thedevice'illuStrat'edin'the accompanying drawings; in which:

Fig. l is a plan view of the operating If this drum or pulley moves synchronously with the othersa tension wllly device is asfollow's mechanis'm of a tram car in which the wheels, motive power and platform have been removed so as to show the relation of the drums toe'acliother, the manner 0 f coiling the cable about the several drums; and

means-for changing tlie-d irectionof rotation of the power shart which may be considered either as a driving or driven state;

Fig. i 2 is ailongi'tu'di-nal s'ectioi'ial view taken on the line'22 of Fig. land shows how the .cableiisgui'ded to the proper grooves on respective .dru-ins by means of inde'pendent guide'pulley's'; I 7

Fig 3' a cross sectional-view .01: one di uiir H assembly taken on the line 33 of Q-and shows how the separate-drums can be built with Wearing surfac'essofter than metal also shows some oi the arrangement of the parts before the differential strains between the drums is eliminated; .;V

Fig. 4 is aside' elevation partially sectional; taken on the line 4-4 'oIfFig. 3 and shows" in dotted lines the-positions o'f the pawls;

Fig-s: .5zand 6 are sectional views respectively' taken on the line .5"J5- of Fig. (Stand dilter only in the fact that Fig. 5 shows different phases of action of the mechanism by which the drums are opeif-atively :connected with the shafts on which they are mounted;

i Fig; 7 is a detail view partially sectional, of a detail .oficonstruction ofoneof the parts which Icallthe releasing shoein'tlie-bOdy of any specification; l i Fig. 18 is a side elevation of the parts shown in Fig. and i Fig. '9 isaperfspectivfe view of details of arrangement-ofthe paw'ls C0ll1'p'11S1-I1'giil16 operative connection between the .drumsand their shafts. V i

The construction and operation oi my The bearings c carried by the :main' framea support the powersh'att rb- :to-fwhich are slidably mounted bevelzpinions c,0,;c and 0 which' are held against rotation .onsaid" they mesh onthe opposite side, {of the; bevel gear ve and the pinions 0 and 0 mesh in a like manner witli the fbeve1= gear 6' thus causing clockwise or counter clockwise rotation -o'f'the--latter. rhepiniohs 0,: 0",

c and 0 are moved into and out-of means of the shifter bars d, d, d and (Z which are mounted on the common shifter rod d. The rod a? is mounted in suitable bearings 6Z (Z and (Z. The bevel gear 6 is affixed to the stub shaft f and the bevel gear 6 is aflixed in a like manner to the stub shaft f.

Drums Z, Z are loosely mounted on the stub shaft f and drums Z and Z are loosely mounted on the stub shaft 7'. The stub shafts f and are mounted on the frame a by means of earings a and a respectively.

In the future reference characters I shall refer only to the parts which constitute the forward drum assembly which is mounted on stub shaft 7, as they are similar in all respects to the drum assembly mounted on the stud shaft f. These parts are shown in the cross sectional View, Fig. 3.

The barrel 9 is rigidly mounted on the stub shaft fby means of the key g. The barrel 9 carries removable pawls It, 72, k and h which engage withthe internal gear j which is made integral with the casting 7c. Similar pawls in the drum is engage with the internal gear 7" of the aforementioned drum. ()nly two of these pawls are shown, pawl if working in the same slot as h and pawl it working in the same slot as if. Coil springs 2", i 2' and i hold the pawls h, A 7L and Zr in engagement with the internal gear j. The removable sides Z and Z are fastened to the main casting 7c and respectively, by means of bolts m and m and nuts n and n. These castings are spaced apart and hold between them filler pieces 0 and 0. On the periphery of these filler pieces 0 and 0 are thevparallel grooves and g) respectively, which accommodate the cable 1 and thus help to avoid meshing of the separate coils of the cable as they pass around these drums. Independent guide pulleyss and s are fixed between the, drums in order to guide the cable into the proper grooves. The releasing shoe 2? which releases operative connection to drums Z and Z will be used as typical because it is similar in respect to the releasing shoe which releases the operative connection to the drums Z and Z*. The re leasing shoe t is composed of two curved pieces a: and m and two hollow circular side pieces 3 and y which are fastened together by means of screws 2 which fasten thru the sides :0 of the curved pieces at and w. This releasing shoe is rotated solely by means of the frictional contact between the main castings 7c and k and the blocks M which are fastened to said releasing shoe. These blocks are held against relative movement by the pins 4) and held infrictional contact against the main castings Z0 and 70 by the spring w.

It is to be noted that this releasing shoe t is is no way connected with the shaft or bearing. It is merely rotated with the fric against the teeth j and 7' but when the barrel 9 is moved slower than the notch face j the shoe t will be carried around as shown in Fig. 6 and will thus release the vcontacts of the pawls h and k and will;

cause the pawls h? and 71% to come into engagement with the teeth 9' and j pawls 7L3 and h* are set so as to result in giving the drums a counter rotation to the rotation which was previously given by the engagement of the pawls h and b Thus it is to be noted that if the two drums are moving synchronously. they can be propelled positively in either direction by the action of the two sets of pawls.

By referring to Fig. 3 it is seen that there is no connection between the separate drums on the same shaft and thus they are free to rotate independently at different speeds or directions without hindrance to each other were it not for the action of the pawls. As previously explained, one barrel and one revolving shoe serves both drums but separate sets of pawls actuate the separate drums. Thus if drum Z has become worn so as to be slightly smaller in diameter than drums Z, Z and Z it would not pass as much cable as the drums of normal diameter, which move at synchronous speech Therefore if the cable was not allowed to slip on the surface of the drum, a tension would eventually be set up against drum Z which would loosen its bearing or break the cable. Thus it is necessary that the two drums be allowed in- The i dependent relative motion with each other.

This is accomplished as follows:

Assuming drum Z to be smaller in diameter than the drums Z, Z and Z it follows that it will not present the same rim length or circumference as the other drums. There fore to present the same circumference to the cable, drum Z must rex'olve faster. If it were not for the releasing shoe 6 the smaller drum could only take up the play between, the opposed pawls as previously explained, but as the releasing shoe t is merely held a by the frictional resistance against the sides of the drums 7c and 70 it follows that the releasing shoe might tend to move at the samespeed as drum is which moves the faster. The releasing shoe, however, passing over both sets of pawls would be held by the pawls still in engagement'with drum Z; It is thus prevented from moving faster than the slower drum and thus the releasing shoe abuts the active pawl and allows the disengaged pawl to merely ratchet against the internal notches. Drum Z could therefore deliYer no power, and thus wear and abrasion the operator. No great amount of power istherefore lost by driving with three drums instead of four, but if this condition, which is eliminated from my device, were allowed to continue for any length of time the effect of tremendous tension would cause the evil effects which have been referred to heretofore.

t can be seen also that my devicewould automatically absorb the slack or stretch between the separate drums and would thus equalize the t-ractive effort. By means of the independent pulleys s and s and the :parallel grooves and themain drums I have provided a combination which will effectually prevent a spooling or lapping of the coil of cable on the 'drums- It is to be noted that this invention is not limited to four separate drums because it can be seen that any even number of drums could be provided beyond these four. I am aware of the fact that the combination for communicating power to the shafts is not new to the art, and I therefore donot claim the combination broadly, but merely use this mode of application to illustrate one means.

I claim:

1. A cable mechanism of the character described comprising, a frame, a pair of shafts jonrnaled in the frame, two companion drums loosely mounted on each shaft, a cable running on said drums, releasable means adapted to connect operatively said companion drums individually with their respective shafts, in either direction automatic, means restraining the operative connection of that one of two companion drums which, because of the reduction of its diameter by wear of the cable, revolves the faster, thereby permitting such faster. drums to idle until the cable has worn the companion relatively slower drum to a traction diameter equal to that of the faster drum, and means for communicating power thru said shafts.

2. A cable mechanism of the character de scribed comprising, a frame, a pair of shafts journalled in the frame, two companion drums loosely mounted on each shaft, a cable led to and along the drums located in the same longitudinal plane and given a single turn around each of such drums, thence led by guiding pulleys to the drums located in the adjacent longitudinal plane,

given a single turn around each of, and

finally led away from, the latter drums releasalble, means adapted to connect operiu tively sa'rd compan ron' drums individually with their respective shafts, in either di retr tion, means restraining the Operativecmrn'eet o-n of that one of two companion drums which, because of the reduction of its di ameterby wear of the cable,-revolves faster, thereby permitting. such faster drum to idle until thec'ableha s worn the compani on relatively. slower drum to a traction diameter equal to that of the faster drum, and means for communicating power thru saidshafts.

3. A cable mechanism of the character 'olescribed comprising a frame, a pair of shafts journalled in the frame, a barrel rigid on each shaft, two companion drums loosely mounted on each barrel, means adapted to connect operatively said companion drums individually with the respective drums in either direction, means carried by said drums restram-ing .the operative connection of that one of two companion drums which,

because of the redr'iction of its diameter by wear of the cable, revolves the faster, thereby permitting such faster drum to idle until the cable has worn the companion relatively slower drum to a traction diameter equal to that of the faster drum, and means for communicating power thru said shafts. v

4. A cable mechanism of the character described comprising a frame, a pair of shafts journalled in the frame, a barrel rigid on each shaft, two companion drums loosely mounted over each barrel, the eyes of said drums being provided with cogs, pawls provided on each side of said barrelsv adapted to connect operatively the companion drums, respectively, with the barrel over which they are mounted, so that they will rotate relatively with said barrel, means adapted to prevent the normal action of the pawl element of that drum which rotates at relatively greater speed than its companion drum, and means for communicating power thru said shafts.

5. A cable mechanism of the character described comprising a frame, a pair of shafts journalled in the frame, a barrel rigid on each shaft, two companion drums loosely mounted over each barrel, the eyes of said drums being provided with cogs, pawls provided on each side of said barrels adapted to connect operatively the companion drums, respectively, with the barrel over which they are mounted, so that they will rotate relatively with said barrel, means having frictional operative connection with the companion drums adapted to prevent the normal action of the pawl element of, that drum which rotates at relatively greater speed than its companion drum, and means for communicating power thru said shafts.

6. A cable mechanism of the character described comprising a frame, a pair of shafts journalled in the frame, a barrel rigid on each shaft, two companion drums loosely mounted over each barrel, the eyes of said drums being provided with cogs, pawls provided on each side of said barrels adapted to connect operatively the companion drums, respectively, with the barrel over which they are mounted, so that they will rotate relatively with said barrel, a shoe slidable between the said cog surfaces of the drums and the barrels on which companion drums are mounted, said shoe being adapted to prevent the normal action of the pawl element of that drum which rotates at relatively greater speed than its companion drum, and means for communicating power thru said shafts.

7. A cable mechanism of the character described comprising a frame, a pair of shafts journalled in the frame, a barrel rigid on each shaft, two companion drums loosely mounted over each barrel, the eyes of said drums being provided with cogs, pawls provided on each side of said barrels adapted to connect operatively the companion drums, respectively, with the barrel over which they are mounted, so that they will rotate rela tively with said barrel, a shoe slidable between the said cog surfaces of the drums and the barrels on which companion drums are mounted, said shoe having frictional operative connection with the companion scribed comprising a frame, a pair of shafts journalled in the frame, a barrel rigid on each shaft, two companion drums loosely mounted over each barrel, the eyes of said drums being provided with cogs, pawls provided on each side of said barrels adapted to connect operatively the companion drums,

respectively, with the barrel over which they.

are mounted, so that they will rotate relatively with said barrel, adapted to prevent the normal action of the pawl element of that drum which rotates at relatively greater speed than its companion drum, a cable running said drums, and means for communicating power thru said shafts.

FREDRICK C. VALTERSI 

